Why Join The Google+ Real Estate Communities?

Many of you have as part of your daily ritual to log into Active Rain and read your favorite blog authors. There is certainly nothing wrong with that but if you are a real estate agent, mortgage broker, home inspector, stager, lawyer or anything else connected to the real estate industry you are missing out on a lot of great content if that is all you do everyday!

There are many great places online where you can participate in a real estate forum just like Active Rain. Many of you know what a huge avocate I am for using Google plus for your real estate business. What you may not know is that Google Plus has some exceptional real estate communities where some fantastic articles are posted daily.

I happen to own one of the three largest real estate communities on Google Plus. At the present time there are over 10,500 members. While that pails in comparison to the member numbers here on Active Rain the group is highly engaged. The difference is that you will get to see articles from outside the Active Rain forum that often times are truly exceptional.

You will see consumer related content like buying and selling tips, as well as agent centric content. Often times there are great articles covering important social media or SEO practices. There are writers who post information on the latest tool or technology to use in your business. If you click on the link above this will take you right to the group where you can opt in if you like.

If you want to get more eyeballs on your content the Google+ Real Estate community is a great place to increase your online visibility.

Examples of Great Real Estate Content

Do you want to see some examples of what you will see in the Google Plus Real Estate Community? I have hand picked some of the articles that you will find in the group. One thing I will make clear is the group does not support content that the majority of the members would find interesting.

For example we do not allow real estate listings, market reports or localized articles. We want the majority of the members to enjoy coming to the group daily and not be bogged down by content that doesn't appeal to the masses.

The group is highly moderated and daily we remove content that does not follow the community guidelines. Those that spam the group are given a warning and if they continue to break the rules they are banned. This ensures the community remains a positive and productive environment.

If you are not a member of the Google Plus Real Estate community here are the kind of articles you will discover.

Are Zillow Real Estate Values (Zestimates) Accurate?

Zillow is the bane of all real estate agents! While Zillow offers many excellent features on their real estate site their estimate of value feature is not one of them. On a daily basis countless Realtors have to explain to buyer and seller clients that Zillow Estimates are not accurate. They cause confusion with the general public and force real estate agents to constantly explain why they are not correct. In the article you will see an in-depth discussion covering the reasons why the "zestimate of value" is a bogus means of property valuation. For full disclosure this article on Zillows inacuracy was written by yours truly. If you have ever had a difficult client that thinks the Zillow value is a good measuring stick for market value send them this article. It should clear up quite a bit of confusion as to why Zillow does not hit the mark most of the time.

Home Improvement Projects That Increase a Homes Value

If you are A Realtor I am quite sure you have ran into the seller that believes every single improvement they make to their homes amounts to a comparative increase in value. As real estate agents we know this line of thinking is wrong. There are some improvements that are really worth making and others that offer very little return especially when you are selling. Kyle Hiscock and agent in New Your writes an excellent article about excellent improvements when selling a home. It only makes sense to spend your money wisely when you are about to sell real estate. Kyle does a great job explaining some of the best home improvements.

The Final Real Estate Walk Through

One of the standard procedures in a real estate sale is the buyer having the opportunity to walk through the property one last time before they head to the closing table. The purpose of course is to make sure the condition of the property is the same as when they wrote the purchase contract. Bad suprises are never fun so doing a final walkthrough is vital. Tammy Emineth a favorite hear at Active Rain does a great job summarizing what to look for at the final walk through. Tammy provides an excellent check list of things that are often overlooked by home buyers and their agents.

How a Realtor Determines Market Value?

One of the biggest weaknesses of many real estate agents is their ability to price a home correctly. Pricing a home is both a skill and an art. If you don't follow some basic principles in market valuation it is easy to make mistakes. There is a reason why you see countless properties reduced everyday. The vast majority of Realtors don't know how to nail the right listing price. Joe Manuasa does a fantastic job explaining real estate market value. In fact I was forunate enough to have Joe ask me to come by and offer some opinions for his article. Joe and I had a very neat question and answer session. If you are a new real estate agent this one would be a great read for you.

How to Sell a Luxury Home?

While selling a luxury home has similarities to selling other types of properties there are some differences as well. Debbie Drummond a Realtor from Las Vegas drops by to offer her insight on how to market and sell luxury properties. The article is filled with great tips and insight into marketing to those at the upper end of the market.

Should I Price My Home With Negotiating Room?

One of the age old real estate questions is how much room you should have in your asking price vs what the actual market value of the home happens to be. I am sure if you asked ten Realtors you would probably get a variety of answers. Without a doubt you would have numerous home owners who have pre concieved notions on how much negotiating room there should be. As is often the case the seller would be wrong. Lynn Pineda cuts through all the nonsense and gives us some straight answers on how a home should be priced. Lynn gets right to the point that you probably are putting too much of a gap between the list price and the actual value of your property and why this is a mistake.

These are just a few of the examples of some of the valueable information you will find in the Google Plus Real Estate community. We are always looking for new members and would love to see some of you here at Active Rain come by and take a look. Whether you have a Wordpress Blog, Blogger Blog or an Active Rain blog your content is welcome as long as you follow the guidelines of the community!

Why Use Google+?

If you have been under a rock for the last few years and don't understand why you should be using Google Plus as a major part of your social media strategy, I would encourage you to read this brilliant article by Mark Traphagen on why Real Estate agents should use Google+. Mark clearly explains the benefits how search plus your world can benefit your real estate business. With so many people logging into Google daily and asking questions it only makes sense that you should want to be in front of those people!

When you use Google Plus and create a large following of people all of those see your content in search when they are logged into Google. Most people stay logged in so the you are increasing your odds of being found in search when using Google Plus as a business tool. Mark delves into this topic like no other. If you don't do anything else take the time to read his article. I gaurantee you will be thinking to yourself I should be using Google Plus more than I am.

Don't forget to come by and connect at the Google Plus Real Estate community - you will be glad you did!